Reposting with revision my SOP, any feedback on grammar, content, flow would be appreciated. Thank you!

XXX, March 2016. “Cat Island” I announced, while shooting the XXX TV show while 100 of cats strolled around the island. My interest in the new field of sustainability, in particular, climate change and community resilience, took root when I was a junior reporter interviewing the people of XXX Island, who had suffered the brunt of the 2011 tsunami in XXX. I felt compassion towards them, admiring their courage and determination to rebuild their lives. While I have interviewed local people, and their post disaster adaptation strategies indicated how community-based adaptation can be extremely crucial in times of natural hazards. I was struck by the destructive impact natural disasters could have on people and their livelihoods. For me, “Cat Island” is more than the mere touristic attractive destination in the rural coast of XXX. It stirred the desire within me to understand how community-based adaptation could be critical time and again, to build resilience .

My experiences in XX allowed me to grasp the complexities and interdependency of social and environmental issues and awakened the urge in me to contribute to “sustainability” – yet that particular niche was still unknow. Being born as a female in developing country, I am grateful being a daughter of educated historians who have always encouraged, me and my three sisters, pursuing a career and research endeavors. Our roots belong to XXX- the heart of Silk Road – where my father, has carried out research and published scientific works on Central Asian history while my mother has shaped hundreds of young minds about their country’s history. I had grown up in a family where academic discussions on economy, culture, ecology, politics were common around the dinner table, and I have developed a fascination for multidisciplinary topics. Upon my graduation with social science diploma, I have decided to pursue graduate career in sustainability science, an area that fascinated but simultaneously had lots of unknown insights.